What Haco. does

haco., Inc. is a Tokyo-headquartered marketing consultancy and self-described 'Creative Tank,' founded June 3, 2019 by Sota Sato as a member of Areteco Group. The company operates on a sales-led, direct-engagement model in which its ~20-person team of marketers works as embedded brand and CMO-equivalents for client companies, taking responsibility for profit structure analysis, acquisition channel design, brand concept development, and ultimately the client's market outcomes. Its primary customer segment is Japanese brand owners and business operators; a secondary segment is high-potential marketing talent, primarily sourced from the University of Tokyo.

The company's core service lines include video marketing (claimed as Japan's #1 video marketing firm), 'Drama Commerce' (ドラマコマース) — a content×sales format blending direct-response advertising with branded drama content — and internally incubated brands such as CAPEL (oral care, launched December 2021 in partnership with Dentsu's youngest creative director), i-seeL (ICL-based healthcare brand), and IEM (Import Exclusive Marketing, an exclusive-rights distribution model). It also operates CMOBANK, a proprietary 3-month marketing training program developed over approximately one year by frontline practitioners, offered free of charge to 6–8 selected participants per month who receive a ¥250,000 monthly stipend; the program functions simultaneously as a talent funnel, brand asset, and recruitment channel.

haco. has been bootstrapped (no external VC funding disclosed) with ¥5.1M registered capital and reported profitability from its first month of operations, achieving gross profit in the hundreds of millions of yen within six months of founding. Revenue mechanics are bespoke and client-specific rather than tiered or transactional, with the company additionally taking equity or revenue stakes in ventures it helps create. The company has stated a long-term ambition to become the world's #1 video marketing firm and to spin out marketer-led ventures, including M&A and subsidiary design at the leadership level — though no such transactions have been disclosed to date. The technology stack is not platform-based; the company's moat rests on talent selection methodology, proprietary training IP, and brand-concepting expertise rather than software infrastructure.

Name

Haco.

Legal name

株式会社haco.

Website

https://8-5.me

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

haco., Inc. is a Tokyo-based marketing consultancy and 'Creative Tank' that operates as an embedded brand and CMO-equivalent for Japanese business owners, offering video marketing, drama commerce, and proprietary training programs while incubating in-house brands across oral care, healthcare, and exclusive import distribution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Drama Commerce (ドラマコマース): Content×Sales model producing dramatic video content that combines direct response marketing with branding, targeting consumers. This is described as a new-era advertising format using drama formats preferred by Japanese audiences.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

haco. is a marketing-focused "Creative Tank" that develops consumer brands and provides brand strategy, business model design, and acquisition channel expansion services to Japanese brand-owner clients. The company also produces proprietary in-house brands (e.g., CAPEL oral care, i-seeL ICL-based brand) and operates the CMOBANK marketing training program for elite recruits. Its content × sales approach combines branded video content with direct response marketing in a drama-commerce format.

Product overview

Haco. is a Japanese creative tank and marketing-focused company offering a portfolio of services and proprietary brands. Core offerings include video marketing services (self-described as Japan's No.1 in video marketing), client marketing services, and internally developed brands (CAPEL, i-seeL). The company also operates CMOBANK, a premium marketing education program. Their business model involves developing entrepreneurs from within who can create and scale brands, including potential spin-offs into independent companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CMOBANK: Marketing education program worth 1 million yen per month, developed over approximately 1 year by members who fought at the forefront of web marketing. Initially taught to venture presidents and executives.

Products and services

• CAPEL In-house oral care brand developed by haco. as a consumer brand case study, positioned to challenge P&G's dominance in the Japanese oral care market.
• i-seeL In-house proprietary brand using ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens) technology to enable exclusive customer acquisition, in its zero-to-one phase.
• IEM (Import Exclusive Marketing)

Quantifiable outcome

• 1億MAU+ achieved by a team member
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Areteco Group (アレテコグループ)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2019haco. was established in June 2019 as part of Areteco Group. The representative, Sato Sota, joined Areteco Group after his university years in Singapore's web marketing company. haco. operates as a member of the Areteco Group and benefits from the group structure and support.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Dentsu: Japan's largest advertising agency group. haco. partnered with Dentsu's youngest creative director to develop the CAPEL oral care brand, indicating direct collaboration. Dentsu operates across the full advertising and brand-building stack that haco. is attempting to disrupt at the SMB and venture scale.
• ADK Holdings: Long-established Japanese advertising agency group offering creative, media, and content services. Comparable as a broad incumbent offering integrated marketing and brand-building services that overlap with haco.'s full-stack CMO offering.
• transcosmos: Japanese digital transformation and marketing services firm offering contact center, digital marketing, and e-commerce operations across Asia. Comparable as a broader incumbent providing end-to-end marketing services to Japanese brands, though at much larger scale than haco.
• Septeni Holdings: Tokyo-headquartered digital advertising holding company with operations across Japan and APAC. Comparable as a broader incumbent in the Japanese digital advertising space that overlaps with haco.'s content-and-sales thesis, particularly through its performance marketing subsidiaries.
• CyberAgent: Major Japanese internet conglomerate with a sizable digital advertising business via CyberAgent Japan and ABEMA. Comparable as a broad incumbent operating at the intersection of content and advertising, with overlapping digital marketing capabilities relative to haco.'s content × sales thesis.
• Digital Garage: Japanese digital marketing, payments, and fintech group with a strong marketing solutions arm. Comparable as a broader incumbent in Japanese digital marketing and commerce enablement, intersecting with haco.'s content commerce and brand-building work.
• Hakuhodo: Japan's second-largest advertising agency and a recognized leader in 'sei-katsu-sha' (consumer-insight) marketing. Comparable as a broad incumbent offering integrated brand strategy and creative services that overlap with haco.'s CMO-as-partner offering, though at much larger scale.

Direct peers

• Platinum Inc. Japanese performance marketing agency focused on data-driven digital advertising and consulting. Comparable to haco. as a younger, specialist marketing services firm targeting Japanese brands with direct-response and growth marketing capabilities, rather than the broad-reach model of Dentsu or Hakuhodo.
• IREP Inc. Japanese digital marketing agency providing SEO, advertising, and integrated brand-support services. Comparable to haco. as a digital-native Japanese agency serving brand clients with measurable acquisition outcomes, though operating at a larger and more diversified scale.

Emerging players

• Allied Architects, Inc. Japanese digital advertising holding company with social media, video advertising, and creator-economy operations. Comparable as a smaller but growth-oriented player in Japanese digital and video advertising that overlaps with haco.'s video marketing positioning and drama commerce thesis.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookm.me/sota.sato.sg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/haco-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Haco.